Pinstripe Alley predicts the League Championship Series

The combination of rain and American League Division Series chaos delayed our League Championship Series picks, but we still wanted to get them out there! I polled the Pinstripe Alley staff for who they thought would win each playoff series and who would walk away with the LCS MVP honors.

Check out the results below. Note that all NLCS picks were made prior to the beginning of Game 1 last night. Normally, the ALDS and NLCS wouldn’t overlap, but, well, blame the freakin’ weather (and Major League Baseball’s playoff scheduling).

The Astros are favored to win this ALCS for good reason, and even five members of our staff have them beating New York. But we’re collectively keeping the faith and calling it for the Yankees in seven! MVP picks ran the gamut, but since Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton split the plurality at four votes apiece, I tabbed them with co-MVP honors. It’s happened before, so wouldn’t that be cool? We can hope.

As for the NLCS, the Phillies have already done a disservice to my own pick of Padres in five with Yu Darvish as the MVP, but as one can surmise, the whole thing is a toss-up to us. The most popular pick was Phillies in six, though the Padres actually received more votes to win the series. Nine different players received votes for MVP. These are two surprising teams that very few could have possibly picked to outlast the Dodgers, Braves, Mets, and Cardinals, so this all tracks. Sam’s off to the best start after Zack Wheeler’s brilliant outing last night, so keep an eye on his picks (as well as those who picked Bryce Harper or Kyle Schwarber, since both went deep).

Make your own LCS picks and follow along with us!